16 days until #DanceWeekend21!

Meet Newton Moraes. His company, Newton Moraes Dance Theatre is dedicated to the creation of contemporary dance works to explore, maintain and develop the links between the arts of Canada and Latin America. “My vision is to provide an environment to support artists in the creation of innovative forms of artistic expression to reach the widest possible audience.”

Join Newton’s workshop on Sunday May 3rd at 3pm for an introduction to Afro-Brazilian dance which incorporates elements of both Brazilian and Contemporary Dance. 

Follow @newtonmoraesdancetheatre for all the latest updates. 

1. Can you tell us little bit about yourself/company/collective/school?

Newton Moraes Dance Theatre is a company dedicated to the creation, performance and production of contemporary dance works to explore, maintain and develop the links between the arts of Canada and Latin America through the artistic vision and knowledge of its founder and artistic director Newton Moraes. This includes the examination of Brazilian culture and the development of new forms of contemporary artistic expression.

2. What will you be sharing at DanceWeekend’21? 

I am going to be sharing some elements of Brazilian Dance and Contemporary Dance to everyone at the DanceWeekend21.

3. How has the pandemic shifted your work as a professional dance artist?

In the beginning of the pandemic I was scared since all my up coming events were all postponed. When I decided to teach my African-Brazilian online, people from Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Germany, Saskatoon, Montreal, Vancouver, St Catherines and Toronto joined the class I felt that everyone were craving for arts and dance classes. Then I was invited to teach dance to the first, second and third year students at Humber College Theatre Department on zoom.  Now I am also rehearsing with Kathleen Rea as well as Mitchell from Free Flow Dance Theatre in Saskatoon also on zoom.  As well a dance project from Sao Paulo Brazil also on zoom. 

4. Please share what you are most looking forward to at Dance Ontario’s first virtual DanceWeekend?

To connect to many viewer and sharing my gift with them, service to the arts. 

5. Do you have any up-coming performances/workshops/events you would like to share?

I teach weekly my dance classes Mondays and Tuesdays at  6:30pm ET on Zoom. You can join my weekly class through this link.

Please check all the up coming performances at: https://newtonmoraesdancetheatre.com/

6. In 1 or 2 sentences, what does dance mean to you?

Dance it a wonderful way to communicate with the body in motion, exploring space, time, rhythms, idea or emotion, releasing energy, or simply taking delight in the movement itself. It can ritualistic, driven a poetic way to say without saying words.